HARARE
–
Former
Tourism
minister
Walter
Mzembi
on
Tuesday
mounted
a
vigorous
defence
in
court,
arguing
that
public-viewing
screens
he
is
accused
of
illegally
donating
to
major
churches
were
not
personal
favours
but
part
of
a
cabinet-sanctioned
strategy
to
rebuild
a
ministry
he
says
had
been
destroyed
by
the
2008
political
violence
and
the
fallout
from
land
reform.
Testifying
before
Justice
Benjamin
Chikowero
of
the
Harare
High
Court
after
losing
his
bid
for
discharge
at
the
close
of
the
state’s
case,
Mzembi
said
he
inherited
“a
very
damaged
sectoral
brand”
when
he
took
over
the
ministry
at
the
height
of
Zimbabwe’s
post-election
crisis.
“When
I
joined
the
ministry,
it
had
only
five
employees…,”
he
said.
“The
ministry
had
collapsed
as
a
result
of
the
toxic
politics
of
2008
and
the
land
reform
programme
of
2000…
Arrivals
had
dropped
to
about
250,000
per
annum
and
US$296
million
in
revenue
were
the
statistics
I
was
handed.”
He
said
the
violence
of
2008
,
a
total
of
241
people
died”
had
shattered
Zimbabwe’s
image,
forcing
him
to
rebuild
the
ministry
from
the
ground
up.
“My
responsibility
was
to
start
a
new
ministry
and
build
it,”
he
testified.
“When
I
left
in
2017…
I
had
steered
the
sector
to
1.5
million
arrivals
and
US$1
billion
in
sector
revenue.”
Led
by
his
lawyers
Killian
Mandiki
and
Emmanuel
Samundombe,
Mzembi
repeatedly
invoked
senior
political
figures
including
the
late
former
president
Robert
Mugabe,
the
late
former
prime
minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai,
and
then
vice-president
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
arguing
that
the
fan-park
screens
were
deployed
with
full
government
authority.
“Mugabe
gave
me
the
power
to
donate
the
TVs,”
he
said.
“Even
Tsvangirai
gave
a
nod…
Mnangagwa
handed
over
the
assets
at
Mbungo
(Zion
Church
of
Christ).
He
was
assigned
by
Mugabe.
Even
Sekeramayi
was
there
when
the
TVs
were
commissioned.
I
can’t
imagine
unilateral
decisions
being
endorsed
by
government.”
He
said
the
screens
originated
from
Zimbabwe’s
preparations
for
the
2010
FIFA
World
Cup,
after
Cabinet
mandated
a
multisector
taskforce
to
set
up
fan
parks
and
use
football
“the
biggest
political
party”
to
heal
a
divided
nation.
“The
genesis
of
the
fan
parks
was
that
they
were
processed
by
the
Sports,
Tourism,
Image
and
Tourism
Taskforce,”
he
said.
“Football
had
the
potential
to
unite
our
people
because
they
were
too
divided
due
to
the
political
tensions
in
2008.”
He
described
a
sprawling,
government-wide
operation
involving
the
army,
Air
Zimbabwe,
the
Ministry
of
Sports,
the
Ministry
of
Transport
and
provincial
governors.
“Army
signals
corps
were
involved
storage
was
done
at
Manyame
Air
Base,
as
well
as
transport
and
installation.
Air
Zimbabwe
airlifted
the
equipment
into
the
country.
Nelson
Chamisa,
who
was
heading
ICTs,
wanted
to
create
information
kiosks
with
these
TVs,”
he
said.
Mzembi
told
the
court
the
screens
were
later
repurposed
for
religious
tourism
a
deliberate
policy
shift
after
government
realised
that
massive
church
gatherings
were
pulling
crowds
but
producing
no
revenue
for
the
fiscus.
“Inside
the
religious
sector
there
were
twin
evils,
tax
avoidance
and
tax
evasion,”
he
said.
“There
was
a
lot
of
traffic
to
religious-branded
events
but
no
money
going
into
the
fiscus.
We
looked
at
the
church
and
said
tithe
we
won’t
touch,
but
commercial
activities
must
be
taxed
and
it
caused
a
lot
of
commotion.”
He
said
government
benchmarked
global
religious
destinations
including
Jerusalem,
Rome,
TB
Joshua
and
ZCC
and
concluded
that
Zimbabwe
could
harness
its
own
high-volume
churches
such
as
PHD,
ZCC
and
UFIC.
“We
actually
gave
more
to
the
church
than
these
PVAs,”
he
said.
“As
beneficiaries
of
SI
173
of
2013,
the
church
received
rebates
for
capital
equipment,
construction
of
churches
and
hotels.”
He
said
Prophet
Walter
Magaya’s
PHD
Ministries
was
among
the
major
beneficiaries.
“At
PHD,
Magaya
said
during
his
‘Night
of
Turnaround’
he
was
going
to
congregate
500,000
people,
so
the
overscreens
were
at
the
overflow
area,”
he
told
the
court.
Mzembi
insisted
that
the
Treasury-authorisation
argument
raised
by
the
State
ignored
the
political
context
of
the
Government
of
National
Unity,
where
“it
was
impossible
to
do
anything
without
consulting
Mugabe
and
Tsvangirai.”
He
said
all
decisions
went
through
deep
consultation:
“As
a
consensus
government,
a
minister
could
not
do
anything
on
his
own.
You
needed
to
brief
the
principals.”
Hearing
continues
Wednesday.
Mzembi
is
expected
to
call
a
witness.